When my first born was a toddler, this Grandma took gourmet cooking lessons. I can still remember repeating and play acting making duck sauce from scratch while our daughter was in the bath tub.
After all, running out of things to say to a toddler, repeating a recipe gave both of us something to talk about. Everyone commented that she would become a gourmet cook one day. No, that did not happen. What happened is her vocabulary exploded, and she is now a professional working mother with no time to cook. She has learned the best cooking tip from her professional working mother: make reservations.
This generation of babies, born late 1990’s to present, our grandchildren, are called the “App Generation” and “Generation Z,” according to an article in Time Magazine, December 28, 2015 to January 4, 2016, “Move over Millenials, Society is Starting To Obsess Over the Next Generation That Will Define American Culture.” The author, Katy Steinmetz, says there are over 60 million of them. No wonder, they are the grandchildren of us Boomers. She writes:
“This generation is growing up “totally and utterly connected,” says California State University psychologist Larry Rosen. Experts like Rosen have concerns about these kids’ Google-fostered expectations that everything be instantaneous. They worry about their inability to tolerate even five seconds of boredom. And they fret about the demands that come with maintaining several identities online, from Facebook to Instagram to Snapchat.”
We have to give the parents of our grandchildren credit, as does the article, that they are trying to keep the grandchildren off their electronics twenty four seven, although the parents are hardly the role model, being on electronics twenty four seven themselves. We and the parents of the grandchildren are equally guilty of buying ipads, computers, iphones and all gadgets we can think of that are new and modern for them. Now, comes the backlash.
In the New York Times, December 24, 2015, in “Traditional Toys May Beat Gadgets in Language Development,” Pam Belluck, the author, says “research suggests that some gadgets can make parents less likely to engage in meaningful give-and-take with their children. . . .the verbal give-and-take with their parents that is so crucial to cognitive development.” The study , “Association of the Type of Toy Used During Play With the Quantity and Quality of Parent-Infant Communication,” December 23, 2015, by Anna V. Sosa, PhD, published in JAMA Pediatrics, can be found in its entirety here.
Its conclusion:
“Play with electronic toys is associated with decreased quantity and quality of language input compared with play with books or traditional toys. To promote early language development, play with electronic toys should be discouraged. Traditional toys may be a valuable alternative for parent-infant play time if book reading is not a preferred activity.”
Why? According to Ms. Belluck, [I] t seems what “[w]hen electronic toys were being used, parents said about 40 words per minute, on average, compared with 56 words per minute for traditional toys and 67 words per minute with books.”
This Grandma was surprised the conclusion mentioning that book reading may not be a preferred activity! The parents apparently let the electronic toy talk for them and talked more with toys that did not talk. Okay, we know parents are tired but it seems to this Grandma that it is easier to have the child in your lap reading a book to them than anything else.
But the study does remind us of the reality of child development we must all keep in mind:
“Variation in early language development is in part determined by a child’s language environment. The quantity of language input received from caregivers during the first few years is positively associated with a child’s language accomplishments and this early advantage can have long-lasting implications for overall academic success. Previous evidence suggests that in addition to the quantity of language exposure, measures of interaction quality also influence language development. For example, maternal responsiveness and the number of adult-child conversations both positively affect language development.”
So, we Grandmas need to emphasize good old talking, babbling about anything. Singing and dancing, being silly, and conversation is the best. Babies love to look at faces and listen to voices. This Grandma intentionally uses large vocabulary words with young grandchildren. They are sponges. It is adorable to hear them repeat what we say.
So, if this parent generation is just too tired, as the study says, “optimizing the quality of limited parent-child play time is imperative.” Instead of talking about recipes, read the ingredients in the packages being opened for dinner!
Just talk to our grandchildren in 2016! Just encourage the parents of our grandchildren to disconnect and talk to them in 2016! That is a good New Year’s resolution.
And, when we bring visit presents, let’s think traditional blocks and pick up sticks. Go to the Oppenheimer Platinum Award Winners at Toy Portfolio.
Joy,
Mema
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